Santee deputies search for man who tried to lure student by saying the boy's father sent him

A man driving a pickup tried to lure a 12-year-old boy into his truck Thursday afternoon in Santee by telling the child his father sent him to pick him up, sheriff’s officials said.

The boy, a student who was walking hom from Rio Seco School, ran to a nearby apartment complex and was not harmed physically, sheriff’s Sgt. Joe Passalacqua said. The boy’s parents both told investigators they did not send anyone to pick up their son.

It happened about 3:15 p.m. on Riverwalk Drive east of Cuyamaca Street, less than a block from the campus and the Santee School District headquarters.

The boy described the driver as being a tan white man in his 40s with short blond hair and stubble. He wore a brown baseball cap with a Hurley brand logo and a short-sleeve plaid shirt that was white, blue and baby blue.

The man’s white Ford F-150 single-cab pickup was described by the child as “dirty,” Passalacqua said. It was described as a newer model truck with a lift and black rims.

It was last seen eastbound on Riverwalk Drive.

A similar incident also happened Thursday near Tierrasanta Elementary School, where a man and woman in a car approached two students walking home, asked their names and invited them into the car, NBC7 reported.

The San Diego Unified Police Department, San Diego Unified School District’s police agency, was handling that investigation, according to a San Diego police officer.